ABSTRACT

Food and eating are pleasurable and essential to life. However, the abundance of palatable food items in many societies has created problems both at the individual and societal levels. Similarly, sedentary behaviour is associated with deleterious health outcomes. This is a cross sectional study aimed to determine dietary habits, lifestyle and physical activity levels of lecturers in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Out of 320 sample size, 316 were returned which was used in the study. A total of 173 males and 143 females participated in the study and they were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data on socio economic characteristics, dietary habits, lifestyle and physical activity levels were collected using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and Chi- square with SPSS version 20.0. From the result, 37% were 20-29 years, some (49.1%) earned> N120, 001 a month. Majority (77.2%) did not skip meals while 8.9%, 12.3% and 1.6% skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner, respectively. More than half (56.3%) took fruits in-between meals, 36.4% took malt, 23.1% preferred garri and soup, 41.1% took fruits twice a week while 49.1% consumed vegetables twice a week, 53.5% preferred ugu most. Some (49.1%) of the lecturers consumed honey while 41.1% took dried fruits. According to their lifestyle patterns, 38.9% engaged in walking/trekking, 34.4% preferred playing football. At leisure, 33.9% preferred reading, some (37.7%) usually observe their siesta, and 44.6% of the lecturers took wine. Only (12.3%) of them claimed they smoked cigarette. According to their physical activity levels, 63.9% were moderately active. There were significant relationships between frequencies of soft drink consumption (P= 0.004); number of hours slept a day (P 0.005) and the physical activity levels of the lecturers. It is therefore important for these lecturers to maintain healthy dietary habits and positive lifestyle patterns by engaging in physical activities at least 30 minutes a day as it positively affected sleep.